Help with English: "Maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably"

[Saint]

The Post reports that his mother, Sasha Czack, had also been notified of her son's passing. Stallone made his acting debut alongside his father in "Rocky V." He went on to act in a number of films, most recently in "Promises Written in Water" in 2010 (he also appeared in "The Agent," a short, and in a 2011 television documentary episode on the Rocky films).

passing = means death? Is it not passing away?

Cathy Tyree was on the hunt for an old couch when she stumbled across something incredible at an antique shop in Richmond, Va.

Tyree had been in the store for only 15 minutes when she discovered a lost picture of her deceased father among the glassware, furniture and old books.

"I was almost speechless" Tyree told CBS 6.

In a framed photo from the late 1950's was Tyree's father, Louis Tyree, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

"He was larger than life. He enjoyed his family. He enjoyed a good time," Tyree says of her father who passed away in 1976. "The last thing you expect to find is a picture of someone who has been gone so long."

Tyree spent $8 on the priceless treasure.

speechless = too much surprised? shocked? confused?

has been gone so long = has been gone for so long? Shall I put a "for" here?

[Saint]

Her search to recover lost family heirlooms, however, did not end there.

When Tyree lost her home in a foreclosure a few years ago, her father's trunk -- filled with family photos -- was auctioned off. Now she scours antique stores in Richmond, hoping to find more photos of her family.

heirloom = something of special value handed on from one generation to another. My father's old car - Volkswagen Beetle (produced in 1970s) is an heirloom too?

scour = to go through or range over in or as if in a search. Looking for a missing child can be an act of scouring too?

[Saint]

What is "holy shit"?

[Gremmie]

What is "holy shit"?

Oh man...Sooo tempting. Must resist answering this one.

Hope Fraggle takes this one soon. Or...

[Saint]

I upload some files into/to/on/in my Skydrive.

Which is the proper preposition?

[Fraggle Rocker]

passing = means death? Is it not passing away?

Yes. But recently, in America, we've begun to shorten it to just "passing." We only use it as a noun (a gerund): "I was so sorry to hear about your father's passing." We still use "away" with the verb: "My grandmother passed away last Tuesday." Not "My grandmother passed last Tuesday."

speechless = too much surprised? shocked? confused?

It can be any of those things. Literally, it means that you are overcome by an emotion or other feeling so that you are temporarily, or at least momentarily, incapable of speech.

has been gone so long = has been gone for so long? Shall I put a "for" here?

It's normally said and written without the "for."

heirloom = something of special value handed on from one generation to another. My father's old car - Volkswagen Beetle (produced in 1970s) is an heirloom too?

It could be. Certainly in America, where we love our cars. We have a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 240D that we bought new, the year after our wedding. It's not an heirloom yet because we are the original owners, but it is certainly a classic.

Horticulturists talk about heirloom varieties of trees, flowers and edible plants. These are the original varieties, often from the 19th century, which were hybridized to develop the ones currently in use.

scour = to go through or range over in or as if in a search. Looking for a missing child can be an act of scouring too?

That's not a very good definition. The original meaning of "scour" is to clean and/or polish something very thoroughly by using abrasive material. My mother talked about scouring her pots and pans and the sink. In the 1950s products like Brillo and S.O.S. were sold under the name "scouring pads."

So to use "scour" in the sense of a search means that you are proceeding slowly and carefully, inspecting every square inch of territory, just the way you would polish every square inch of a pot to make it shine. So "scour" is not a reference to the goal of the search, but to the technique used. If you look in every basement, every storm drain, every garden shed, every rubbish pile, every bush, then you are scouring the neighborhood in your attempt to find the missing child.

What is "holy shit"?

English is a language without a rich vocabulary of profanity. We compensate by putting words together in such a way as to make them exceptionally offensive. "Holy" is a religious word. Hundreds of years ago people said things like "Holy Mother of God!" as a way of expressing surprise, anger, disappointment, shock, etc. Then to make this epithet a little more shocking, they borrowed the "holy" from religious language and put it in front of ordinary words. When I was a kid, "holy cow" and "holy smoke" were very common expressions of surprise.

This is blasphemy, the juxtaposition of the sacred with the ordinary. These phrases soon lost their power to shock because we heard them every day. So now we don't just juxtapose the sacred with the ordinary, we juxtapose the sacred with the obscene. "Shit" is an obscene word, one of several that cannot legally be said on a radio or TV broadcast during the time of day when children might be listening.

So "holy shit" is the ultimate blasphemy. It's like hitting your thumb with a hammer and yelling "Fucking Jesus!" People have been known to say that too.

I upload some files into/to/on/in my Skydrive.

"To" is the correct word. But remember that we rarely use the present tense of verbs in English. If you're doing this right now, you'd say "I am uploading..." You might say "I upload..." if you're explaining a procedure to somebody.

I choose the files I want, then I select the Skydrive as the destination device, then I click on the COPY icon. This is how I upload files.

[Trippy]

"To" is the correct word. But remember that we rarely use the present tense of verbs in English. If you're doing this right now, you'd say "I am uploading..." You might say "I upload..." if you're explaining a procedure to somebody.

I choose the files I want, then I select the Skydrive as the destination device, then I click on the COPY icon. This is how I upload files.

I've often thought, and wondered about this.

Presumably it's 'to' because you're copying the data from one location to another location. But at that location is a device, and that information is stored in the device. And if you're talking about a server somewhere, then that device is a hard drive, and in that hard drive is a hard drive plater on which the information is physically located.

And therein lies the thing of it for me. We are uploading to, in and on all at the same time.


I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.
I will not try and apply logic to the english language.

[Saint]

I have many/a lot of/plenty of work to do.

Work, is countable or uncountable noun?
Can I write "many works"?

[Sarkus]

No.

Work (as in the daily chores etc, rather than a specific "work" by a painter, for example) is a continuous singular concept, and does not take measures that require the plural.
You can say "a lot of" or "plenty of" or even "much" - as these are all measures of the singular.
But you can not use measures such as "many", "a few", or even numerical quantities, as these all require the plural.

It is similar to a length of string... no matter how long it is we still call it by the singular... string.

[Fraggle Rocker]

I have many/a lot of/plenty of work to do. Work, is countable or uncountable noun? Can I write "many works"?

"Work" is used both ways. In your sentence it is a mass noun, so "I have a lot of work to do."

But it's also used as a countable noun. "There are many beautiful works of art in the County museum." "Your presentation was a work of genius."

In some cases it can be used both ways, but this is because both meanings are accurate.

"A man is remembered for his good work." -- He has been working diligently and selflessly his whole life; he has done a lot of good work.

"A man is remembered for his good works." -- The statues that he carved are on display all over the city; he left us with many good works.

Many national, state and municipal governments have a "Department of Public Works." These are the people who build highways, bridges, schools, hospitals, etc.

[Saint]

Val Patterson said his life motto was "Anything for a laugh." And after the 59-year-old died of throat cancer last week, he owned up to a few humorous events from his life.

own up to = means what?

First up, the former engineer admits he never earned the advanced degree from the University of Utah that gained him entrance to his chosen professional career:
"What happened was that the day I went to pay off my college student loan at the U of U, the girl working there put my receipt into the wrong stack, and two weeks later, a PhD diploma came in the mail. I didn't even graduate, I only had about 3 years of college credit. In fact, I never did even learn what the letters 'PhD' even stood for."

How can he was so lucky?
Did the university's clerical error cause this?

Patterson's other confessions appear to stem from his youth. He admits, "I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971." And in a far more comical confession, "Now to that really mean Park Ranger; after all, it was me that rolled those rocks into your geyser and ruined it. I did notice a few years later that you did get Old Faithful working again."

I don't understand his story, can you explain?

And to top it off, Patterson seems to have had a string of run-ins with theme park officials over the years, writing:
"To Disneyland - you can now throw away that 'Banned for Life' file you have on me, I'm not a problem anymore - and SeaWorld San Diego, too, if you read this."
Patterson wraps up his final words with a somber note on how his cigarette habit deprived him of more years with his family. But it's also clear that he loved life while he was here and was determined to go out with one last laugh. And his wife confirmed to KSL-TV that all of the confessions were true.

run-ins = ?

[Fraggle Rocker]

own up to = means what?

To "own up" means to take responsibility. To "own up to" a deed means to confess to it, i.e., to admit that you "own" it.

How can he was so lucky?

As I've said before, you need to put more effort into learning grammar and no so much into vocabulary. The correct form of this question is, "How can he have been so lucky?" Can must always be followed by a verb in the present tense. (Actually the infinitive, but in English the infinitive and present tense are almost always identical.) It cannot be followed by a verb in the past tense. So in this case you have to use the present perfect tense of the verb "to be," which is "has been" or "have been," because then you've got the verb "to have" in the present tense.

Did the university's clerical error cause this?

Obviously.

I don't understand his story, can you explain?

A geyser is a hot spring that is so hot that occasionally the water actually boils. When this happens it sends up plumes of steam. Yellowstone National Park, in the northwestern state of Wyoming, is famous for its geysers. Old Faithful is the nickname for the most famous geyser, because its eruptions occur at very precise intervals, so visitors know when to go over and observe them. His joke is that by dumping rocks into a geyser it would be possible to block its opening so that it would no longer erupt. What would actually happen is that it might skip one or two eruptions, but during that time the pressure would increase and eventually it would blow the rocks out, possibly injuring a spectator.

run-ins = ?

A run-in is a hostile encounter. Generally when a person says he has had a run-in, the other person had more power or authority so it was a bad experience for him. So if he had a run-in with the officials at a theme park (like Disneyland or Sea World) it means he was doing something that was against the rules or even against the law. They would have told him to stop; the second time they would have sent him home--or if it was bad enough they might have summoned the police. The third time they would have banned him from ever coming back.

[Saint]

1. Bible is the word of God.
2. Bible are the words of God.

Which is correct? Do I need to capitalize "Word"?

Or shall I say:
3. Bible contains the words of God.

[Saint]

Can I say:
How can he is so lucky?

[Saint]

"I would not ask anybody to compromise their principles. There's too much of that in politics today to begin with. But I also have to get everyone to acknowledge you're not going to get everything you want. And once you get acknowledgement on both sides of that equation, you can find and force compromise as an executive," Christie said, adding that a good leader has to be able to "walk and chew gum at the same time."

walk and chew gum at the same time = multitasking?

[Sarkus]

1. Bible is the word of God.
2. Bible are the words of God.

Which is correct? Do I need to capitalize "Word"?

Or shall I say:
3. Bible contains the words of God.

First, you need either an indefinite or definite article... as in "A Bible..." or "The Bible...".
And 1 is the correct syntax: "The Bible is the word of God" although 3 is also correct (with the in/definite article).

Can I say:
How can he is so lucky?

No, it makes no sense.
How you should say it depends what you are asking.
If you are asking what exactly he is doing to be so lucky then "How is he so lucky?" would do. But then if he's doing something specific, it probably isn't luck!
If you're just expressing disbelief / exasperation at the perceived luck, then two options spring to mind: How come he is so lucky?; or How can he be so lucky?.

The first usese the idiom "How come" to mean "Why" or "For what reason"... where "How come" is a shortened version of phrases such as: "How does it come to be that...", or "How come you by the notion that...", etc.

walk and chew gum at the same time = multitasking?

Yes, if used as a positive (as in "you are able to...").
When used in the negative ("You can't...") then it generally means you are questioning their competence - and unable to do two trivial/automatic jobs at the same time.

[Saint]

There is only 1 Bible, everyone know what I am talking about, so why do I need to put "the" or "a" before Bible?

[Saint]

In the daily war of words in an up-for-grabs presidential contest, health care politics took top billing as Obama opened two days of campaigning in Florida, the largest and most coveted of the nation's Election Day toss-up states. Obama could see his chances for another term seriously damaged if Romney prevails here.

toss-up = ?

[Sarkus]

There is only 1 Bible, everyone know what I am talking about, so why do I need to put "the" or "a" before Bible?

Even if you think there is only 1 Bible you should still use the definite article ("the") in your sentence.
The default rule in English in this regard (as far as I am aware) is to use the definite article if there is 1 or you are referring to a specific one, and to use the indefinite article when you are referring to any one of many.
Maybe Fraggle can help explain this better.
There are situations where we don't use the definite article... and usually these are when using the definite article would actually change the meaning away from what we mean:
E.g. "He went to school", compared with "He went to the school."
The first states that he was educated.
The second states that he went to the specific collection of buildings that has been designated as "school".


As for there being only 1 Bible... there are many versions / translations, many debated over with regard accuracy.

But even if we agree that there is only one...
If we say "The Bible is the word of God" then this refers not to the physical book but the words and wisdom, the stories and ideas within that book.
If we say "A Bible is the word of God" then this would refer more to the physical book that we refer to as The Bible.

It's a subtle difference, and both should get the same meaning across.

toss-up = ?

Generally refers to a random selection between two alternatives.
It originates from the tossing of a coin - either for gambling purposes or to let Lady Luck / Fate be the arbiter of a dispute.

So in this context it means that the outcome of the election is too close to predict, and each side has a 50/50 chance of winning it, such that they may as well toss a coin to decide.

[Saint]

Yesterday I watched Batman in cinema.

Do I need to put "a" or "the" in front of cinema?